R

esidents in Girimukti village, Ciemas district in Sukabumi regency, West Java, saved a Javan leopard from being killed and gave the protected animal to the state, which later donated it to Taman Safari Indonesia in Cisarua, Bogor.

The live capture of the leopard was the first of its kind in the area. Usually, residents catch and immediately kill the animal.

'€œSome of the residents even sell stuffed leopards to visitors,'€ Nyonyo, a businessman from Jakarta who likes to spend his vacation in the area, said recently.

Nyonyo said based on information from local residents, villagers had killed at least 10 leopards.

Sixty two-year-old resident Peni said three leopards were caught and killed between 1982 and 1990.

'€œResidents were anxious because the leopards liked to eat their livestock and dogs,'€ said Peni.

In the past, residents caught leopards following reports from those who had lost their livestock. They traced the animals'€™ tracks and blood stains of the livestock.

They made traps from bamboo after discovering the leopards'€™ hiding places.

'€œWe placed a dog in one trap as bait. If the leopard entered the trap, we killed it,'€ said Peni, adding the leopards would be killed with knifes or rifles.

Nyonyo informed the residents the leopard was an endangered species and had to be protected. Together with his friends from the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesia Hunting and Target Shooting Association (Perbakin), Nyonyo appealed to the villagers to no longer kill the leopard.

Nyonyo'€™s efforts were heard by the Indonesian Wildlife Conservation Forum (Foksi), which collaborated with Taman Safari Indonesia to save the leopard.

He took the step after failing to get a response from the Forestry Ministry, which had the authority to respond to reports from residents in the Jampang Kulon area.

The trap was then set in Cijengkol Block in Girimukti on Oct. 11, in a location that included animal feces and tracks.

The leopard, measuring 180 centimeters long and weighing around 50 kilograms, entered the trap and was later taken to the safari park.

'€œWe placed a chicken as bait in the trap. We also used a live goat in another trap to attract the leopard,'€ said a wildlife rescue worker from the park.

The leopard, named Selang, or tiger in the local tongue, entered the trap at around 10 p.m.

Cikepuh Wildlife Refuge Forest ranger chief Iwan Setiawan said the leopard, which was legally owned by the state, was later placed in the custody of the park.

'€œWe hope it can be released back to its natural habitat one day,'€ said Iwan.

In his book titled Field Guidebook: Wild Cats of Indonesia, an observer of big cats, Anton Ario, estimates 546 Javan leopards are still surviving in their natural habitats. They can be found in a number of national parks in Java, such as Mount Halimun National Park, Mt. Salak Forest and Mt. Gede Pangrango National Park.

The leopards have also been observed in 12 natural reserves, tourism forests and hunting parks across the country.

In 2008, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature released data on the population of the Javan leopard that said there were only around 250 left.

This caused the animal to be included in Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The Javan leopard is one of 24 such species found around the world. Others include the panthera pardus fusca from India, panthera pardus pardus (North Africa), panthera pardus adersi (Zanzibar), panthera pardus orientalis (Russia), panthera pardus saxicolor (Iran) and panthera pardus japonensi (northern China).

Nyonyo hoped the change in people'€™s behavior could be one effort to preserve the rare animal.

'€œHowever, we should also think about a strategy to help the community living around the animal'€™s habitat. They kill the leopard because it has killed their livestock, which is part of their livelihood. We should react in a wise manner,'€ said Nyonyo.